Tag: watercolor

Experience the Schützenfest: A Tradition in Lipperode, Germany

The image shows 6 vignettes of people involved in the activities of the Schützenfest. At the top is the shooting target and bits of wood are flying everywhere after the latest shot. The other pictures are of the backs of people sitting or standing. One image is of one of the flab bearers looking tired and ready to go home

Over the past four years, I have attended three Schützenfeste in Lipperode, Germany. The Schützenfest is a local village-based three-day festival that has its origins in the 15th century, where militias trained for village defense. Nowadays, the shooting is restricted to hitting a wooden target designed in the form of a bird. There are prizes attached to parts of the bird. The person who shoots the last piece of the bird from the target is crowned King and takes over the social activities of the Schützenfest club for the following year. During the three-day festival, there are many parades with marching bands from other villages as well as the host village. Needless to say, beer is the common accompaniment to all these activities. In Lipperode, the “uniform” is a top hat with oak leaves, a white shirt and pants, and a black jacket with a yellow and red sash.

It has taken me several years to feel comfortable at these events, largely due to my impoverished German. However last year, Werner, Andreas’s brother in law took me under his wing and steered me to the good places to get some sketching done. My German can get me started in simple conversations and so I am slowly feeling more comfortable with these events.

Travel Sketches..

Over the past three years we have rented apartments in Rietberg. There have been plenty of opportunities to sketch the wide variety of “fachwerk” homes in the town.

Rietberg is a bubble. It’s a vibrant lived in village with great public transport to bigger towns. It’s an old moated town, full of interesting homes and historic buildings. Some of the homes are private, others are rentable, still others are restaurants or museums. And of course, La Luna, our go to ice cream shop is at the entrance to the village overlooking the lively stream that feeds the remnants of the old moat

I’m looking forward to the coming year to continue capturing the life of this village

Monsoon Butterfly invasion

..the joys of rain

Giclée Print of Watercolor, 11″x14″

Drawing to the end of August 2021 and southern Arizona has experienced a magnificent Monsoon. Rainfall has exceed our annual rainfall in just one month. At the end of July, after 18 months of almost no rain, the desert had dried and the natural world seemed dead. We braced for a repeat performance of last year with summer temperatures over 100F for over 100 days. But then the rains came. Almost over night the desert greened, cactus bloomed and the wonderful smell of the creosote bush engulfed the humid atmosphere. A while later butterflies of all description appeared. This, the Queen, is often confused with the Monarch butterfly and indeed it is similar, even enjoying milkweed to lay its eggs. This particular butterfly found a safe place to perch on my bird fountain. The calcified edge created enough texture for it’s legs to grasp the edge and sip at the damp surface of the pot.